In this feature, Jeff Goodman, Licensed Real Estate Agent at Brown Harris Stevens, examines the real drivers of value in today’s housing market—community, connection, and belonging. Drawing on more than 16 years of experience across New York City, Jeff explains why homes aren’t sold on finishes alone, but on the lived experience of a neighborhood. Through real client stories and firsthand insight, he makes the case that community is not a soft factor in real estate—it’s a strategic one.
Read his perspective below.
From my perspective and with what I have learned, is that the feeling of belonging is what makes someone fall in love with a home, which is something very difficult to quantify. When people talk about real estate, they shift their focus to something that matters less than this. Their focus often lies on square footage, finishes, and comps.
After giving more than 16 years of my life to real estate in New York City, people don’t come in with the wish of just buying a home. They would rather look for a connection, maybe a neighbourhood that feels like themselves. The right block. The right coffee corner. The familiar waves and nods pass by on the sidewalks. These minor details may feel unimportant, but they become the heartbeat of our lives.
What is commonly thought of as the case is that granite countertops or any other such special features in the house help convince people to finally buy it. The reality is that it’s actually the community and everything that it has to offer.
The Unspoken Pull of Belonging
I worked many years ago with a young couple who were changing homes and moving from Chicago to Brooklyn. They were mostly attracted by the energy and culture of Brooklyn, but because there were too many listings, they were getting very confused. We viewed so many apartments which sounded and looked perfect in every way, but what they finally fell in love with was a modest brownstone house on rent, which had a quiet street filled with leaves in Carroll Gardens.
It was the feeling of home they got when they saw how all the neighbors were so frank with each other, even knowing each other’s names, too, and how safe it was for children to play outside. Even though there was nothing inside the apartment that was extra-ordinarily great to set it apart from every other apartment that we saw.
For them, it was not the apartment itself that made them decide to take it, but the chemistry between the whole block of houses. They saw how the people’s hearts were connected to each other and knew they could depend on their neighbours to help them in difficult times.
Real Estate Is Always a Human Story
There is a super personal story behind almost every single transaction. Some are stories of joy, like a growing family that needs a bigger home to fit now, whereas others carry a sadness in them, like after a divorce or loss of a family member. The role of the community never gets any smaller despite any of these.
I helped an older woman once who wanted to downsize from a brownstone she had lived in for many, many years. There was so much emotionality in that move, but what helped her feel a little better about her life was the fact that her new building had a garden that was a meeting ground for residents every Sunday. It took her not even a whole month before she had started sharing wine and stories with new friends, and had also become a part of a book club.
When you know for sure that you have people around you who will check on you after it snows, or from whom you can borrow a cup of sugar, then that gives you the feeling of home. It’s not just walls and rooflines that make up a home, which is what we quite often think it is all about.
Community Is a Necessity Not an Amenity
We talk about amenities a lot in real estate. It does not matter, however many fitness centers, rooftop lounges, concierge services, and whatnot you provide, but what actually matters is that feeling of being known. This is something many of us need to understand.
It’s been a common thing throughout history that people often compromise on the size of their homes if they can get one near their children’s schools or even sometimes agree to pay a little extra if it means they get to stay close to a favourite local market of theirs. I’ve also seen many buyers get really excited to find a neighborhood where people call their dogs by name or where their own name is remembered in a local coffee shop.
Having a community means a lot more than just convenience; it makes your quality of life so much better in so many ways that we don’t even realize.
Neighborhoods Are Living Stories
Every neighbourhood has stories that are worth telling, and I truly believe this. This is also one of the main reasons why I host my podcast, which is called Rediscovering New York.
There is a continuously changing atmosphere of people and places around every home as it doesn’t exist in isolation. This is extremely important to understand for us in order to start seeing real estate as a way to give new beginnings to people’s lives and stop thinking of it as just a financial transaction.
Once, I worked with a single father who wanted to find a place near his daughter’s school. He wanted to live in a community that would welcome her with open arms, support her, and make her feel safe while also being vibrant. So naturally, proximity alone was not his only goal. We realised we had hit the jackpot when we found a neighborhood whose residents looked out for each other, where kids played together in the courtyard & where longtime neighbors shared parenting tips with each other.
He later told me that they didn’t just find a place to live, but actually found a tribe to belong to.
How Community Shapes Us
New York and other cities like it, where everything is happening at such a fast rates its not uncommon to feel that everyone wants to live their own lives and not involve anyone else in their decisions. The truth is that people actually do want connection, just without making it too big a deal.
Some small and regular habits make up the invisible structure of our lives. You can have a designated park bench where every day the same people gather together, a diner where your order is known by heart, and maybe a neighborhood email group that shares things as small as block party invites to something like lost pets.
I also focus on helping people go in and out of these habits that they get so used to when I help them buy or sell a home. It’s not something that doesn’t have any importance to me because I understand that community shapes how we see the world and has effects on our pace, on the things that we consider most important, as well as our peace of mind.
Creating Community Wherever You Are
You don’t necessarily have to keep waiting to start feeling connected until you find the perfect neighbourhood; you can create a community through many small acts.
You can start by introducing yourself to a neighbor or supporting a small business run by locals that really creates love for you in other people’s hearts. A great way to start a conversation and connection with your neighbors is to volunteer at a community event or simply say hello in the elevator whenever you get a chance.
Of course, these things seem small, but they create ripples. Over time, they soften the hearts of people to you and lay the foundation of what makes a place feel like home.
Why Community Is the True Value of Real Estate
Property value, resale value, investment value, we talk about all sorts of value in real estate. The real value of a home, though, comes from the way it becomes part of people’s lives as well as the community, and this value is really enduring.
It includes the little details that form after actually living in it, like the memories that are made, the friendships that are formed & the lives that are shared with each other.
It’s the heartbeat of every story that I have ever gotten lucky enough to be a part of, and of a city, too. The thing is, an address is just the start; it’s the people who can truly turn a house into a home.
